Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 847: Chapter 329: Refining the Jade Dew Stone, Cold Element Festival Eve (2)

Li Xuanling’s talent is even stronger than her father, Li Tianhua. As soon as she breaks through to the Cold Resistance Level, her basic strength is already at eight and a half manes. According to the cultivation progress at this level, if she wants to perform a second blood and flesh reorganization, her basic strength needs to at least rise to thirty-four manes, and for the third time, it would be sixty-eight manes.

”The idea of solving the issue of Cold Apple Jade Dew with the White Dew Gu has fallen through. For now, we can only rely on those two Cold Apple Trees in Long Mountain. Together, they produce about 280 drops of jade dew a year. Even if all of them are used to refine Yangyuan Pills, they can produce at most around 2600 pills, which is not enough!”

Yangyuan Pills may sound like a lot, but considering that the number of people at the Cold Resistance Level in Great Xia has already surpassed 200, it’s completely insufficient.

Moreover, this number is not constant.

The Earth-digging Realm Limit in Great Xia, setting aside other factors, just the Cloud Dragon Army and Dragon Martial Army already have around two thousand people. From the situation in the past two months, if the quota of the Martial Arts Academy is fully opened, someone can break through every day. By then, the number of people at the Cold Resistance Level will surely increase at a startling rate.

”I can only let the Hunting Teams put more effort into it. Exploring deeper into the resource areas of Redwood Ridge, Arrow Bamboo Forest, and Long Mountain might reveal a few more Cold Apple Trees. By then, it will address the shortfall of Yangyuan Pills.”

Xia Hong’s mind stirred slightly, and he called up the system interface:

[Camp: Great Xia (Level 0)]

[Lord: Xia Hong]

[Cultivation: Late-stage Cold Resistance (Forty-eight Manes)]

[Territory Population: 419,782]

[Resources: Wood 127.24 million Coal 77.62 million Iron 9.21 million Silver 210 Gold 0]

[Opened Buildings 7: Cold Ruins Tripod (Level 4), Martial Arts Hall (Level 3), Alchemy Workshop (Level 3), Artifact Refining Workshop (Level 3), Black Soil Wall (Level 2), Heroic Spirit Monument (Level 3), Yellow Earth (Level 1)]

[Unopened Buildings 2: Small Wooden Table, Rough Iron Chain]

Seeing the cultivation section, Xia Hong sighed lightly.

The higher the cultivation, the slower the growth rate.

By the end of June, when dealing with the White Dew Gu’s assassination attempt, his basic strength was already at forty-five manes. In the past five months, it has only increased by three manes.

”For the third round of blood and flesh reorganization, reaching the Peak of Cold Resistance requires an additional twenty-four manes. Even at the rate of three manes per five months, it will take at least three more years, and who knows if the cultivation progress will slow down further. To quickly break through to the Xianyang Level, I must find another way!”

Despite the slow cultivation progress, the camp’s development is quite promising.

[Territory Population: 419,782]

Seeing the change in population figure, Xia Hong’s eyes lit up instantly.

Back in October when the entire population of Long Mountain was incorporated, he remembered the number being just over 410,000. In less than two months, it’s close to breaking 420,000. With the base population of Great Xia increasing, the natural population growth rate is also soaring rapidly.

”Apart from silver and gold, the other three resources are in overflow state, and the camp has many reserves which I haven’t converted. It’s a pity they can only be spent on Yellow Earth and Black Soil Wall. Those two silver mines in Long Mountain aren’t something to consider for now; we can only keep searching for other silver mines!”

The two silver mines in Long Mountain, one is occupied by a single Frost Wolf Clan, consisting of over ten thousand members, hundreds of advanced ones, and a genuine Frost Wolf King; the other, while lacking a Beast King, is seized by six Cold Beast Clans, with a total of more than forty thousand Cold Beasts.

Neither is an easy target.

With Great Xia’s current strength, even with the Divine Machine Crossbow, Xia Hong has no confidence in seizing one of them without heavy casualties.

Mining silver is ultimately for the camp’s development. Sacrificing too many people for it would be counterproductive.

Thus, until breaking through to Xianyang Level, I can only keep looking for other silver mines.

With the three major resource areas currently held by Great Xia, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find silver mines as long as done steadily.

”The total number of people in the Earth-digging Realm has already surpassed forty thousand. The Hunting Teams are conservatively estimated to consist of over 1500 units, though mostly mid and low-level teams. However, with the number of Cold Resistance Level individuals increasing, the number of Advanced Teams is bound to surge!”

Once there are plenty of Advanced Hunting Teams, the camp’s exploration progress of the three resource areas will undoubtedly advance rapidly, and it shouldn’t be too difficult to find a silver ore vein with relatively low mining difficulty.

”Silver, we need to solve the silver resource issue quickly. With silver, other buildings can continue to upgrade, and there’s also...”

[Small Wooden Table, Activation Requirements: Silver 1000, Wood 30,000]

The conditions to activate the Small Wooden Table are truly stringent.

This is the reason Xia Hong hasn’t addressed this building for a long time.

Silver, when converted into system resources, equals one point for every five pounds.

points of silver amounts to 5000 pounds of silver.

Embarrassingly enough, the entire Longyou can’t come up with this huge amount of silver.

If no silver ore veins are found, they may have to trade from other camps.

However, camps with silver resources are likely more powerful than Great Xia at its current stage. Why would they trade with you?

Also, in an environment like the Ice Abyss, randomly interacting with camps stronger than yourself often doesn’t yield favorable results.

”I still need to find a way from these three places...”

Xia Hong turned, looking at the Great Xia territorial map behind him, focusing his gaze on the three resource areas. After a brief moment of contemplation, he lifted the Cold Ruins Tripod and walked towards the Star-Picking Hall.

.........

The second year of Great Xia, December 30.

As the year-end approached, the events occurring at Yangyuan Peak were actually known only to the two hundred plus Cold Resistance Level individuals and the nearly two thousand soldiers from the Cloud Jiao Long Wu Two Armies.

The vast majority of people in Xia City were unaware of what happened at Yangyuan Peak.

They were immersed in the joy of the approaching year-end.

”What kind of festival is the Cold Element Festival?”

”Just look it up in the Xia Li, and you’ll know. The Cold Element Festival is our Great Xia’s annual traditional festival, signifying the end of the old year and the beginning of the new one. It officially starts at midnight on the last day of the year and lasts until the fifteenth day of the first month.”

”Fifteen days, anything to celebrate?”

”During these fifteen days, the lights in the valley are never turned off day or night. Everyone doesn’t need to go out for logging or hunting and can stay in Xia City with their families. Plus, on the first night, the lord will host a grand banquet, and the Camp Supply Department will provide a bunch of rare delicacies for everyone to eat and drink freely.”

”Is there such a good thing?”

”Of course, why don’t you go ask the people from the Camp Supply Department?”

”Then I should ask, and I should save some stomach space for tonight!”

.........

For most people who have just integrated into Xia City, the year-end isn’t a new concept.

Since Longyou has an era start, it naturally has its own New Year. However, they obviously don’t value it as much as Great Xia does. Whether at Long Mountain or other ten camps, people clearly don’t treat the year-end as an important occasion.

It wasn’t until they noticed that people in the Inner City were beaming with happiness that someone couldn’t resist asking, which led to the news of the Cold Element Festival spreading.

Most people are ordinary and pragmatic. Tell them the significance of the Cold Element Festival, and it won’t matter much. But tell them there’s a grand banquet tonight with free food and drink, and they’ll become instantly interested, all looking forward to it.

.........

”Minister, will the Cold Element Festival proceed as usual this year?”

While people were filled with joy and anticipation, in the Political Hall of the main building, Xia Chuan heard Qiu Peng’s question but furrowed his brows tightly, remaining silent for a long time.

He and Yuwen Dao had returned with over two hundred Cold Resistance Levels on the 30th during the day, and the soldiers from the Cloud Dragon and Dragon Martial Armies were expected to arrive by night. They should be departing from the Beehive now.

Upon returning to Xia City, he intended to seek out Xia Hong for information. However, without Xia Hong’s decree, unless there was an urgent matter, no one was allowed to intrude upon the Star-Picking Hall, not even himself as the Minister.

So from returning to Xia City until now, he hadn’t seen Xia Hong at all.

The situation of his two nephews was also unknown to him, and he could only anxiously wait in the Political Hall for Xia Hong to come out.

When Qiu Peng asked about this, the implication was clear. Xia Hong might be preoccupied with the matter of Li Xuanling’s pregnancy. Holding a cheerful Cold Element Festival like last year seemed inappropriate.

”Never mind, let’s keep it simple this year. Besides, the population has increased; let’s...”

”No need to simplify, Xuanling is fine now. From now on, the Cold Element Festival should only consider the consumption of the Camp Supply Department, do not worry about me. Hold it as usual every year!”

Before Xia Chuan could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by Xia Hong’s voice. He sprang from his chair, turning to look at the Star-Picking Hall, his face full of joy;

”Madam is alright, and both young masters are safe too, splendid!”

Knowing that Xia Hong’s offspring were safe, Qiu Peng also showed immense excitement.